6 things that make the first week of college hoops worth watching

Nina Mandell | USA TODAY Sports

1. The best freshman in the SEC (or the country for that matter) isn't on Kentucky.

Aussie import Ben Simmons became only the fourth freshman to be selected for the Associated Press' preseason All-America team, an honor that means one important thing: Better catch him now. As the AP pointed out, Simmons joins the company of Harrison Barnes, Andrew Wiggins and Jahlil Okafor -- all who left college after their freshman year. Currently according to early NBA draft projections, he's an early favorite to be the top pick.

But enough about next year: Simmons, who played high school in Florida, won three national high school championships and averaged 28 points, 11.9 rebounds and four assists a game in his final year there. He is expected to have an immediate impact at LSU. "The one thing that stands out when you watch him is that he always makes the right plays,” one NBA scout told SI.com's Chris Mannix earlier this year. “I really don’t see any weaknesses. You can tell he grew up watching LeBron James because he plays like a kid that wants to be great at all facets of the game.”

Simmons told reporters at SEC Media Days that he's just hoping the excitement over his freshman year can translate into an enthusiastic fan base. "If it's not sold out, I'll be kind of upset. Hopefully everyone comes out," Simmons said. "I love seeing fans and them wanting us to win and do well. That really drives me."

LSU plays McNeese St. Friday night on ESPNU.

2. A Louisville player shoots free throws underhanded now.

Earlier this year came the first glimpse of Louisville center Chinanu Onuaku's new free throw form: Underhanded. Granny style, bucket style, the way you did it before you could reliably lift the ball up to your head style, whatever you want it to call it. Onuaku previewed these free throws at the FIBA U19 World Championship and it is his attempt to improve what was a dismal under-50 percent free throw shooting percentage last season. So is he ready for the reaction that the opposing fans are going to have? “Oh, I know they’ll make fun of me," Onuaku told ESPN. “My teammates already laughed at me. I don’t really care."

Louisville plays Samford Friday night on ESPN3.

3. Maryland's bringing back the program's glory days

It would be far better to see this happen in the ACC where they would be battling against an excellent Virginia team, Duke and a revived North Carolina but the Terps have gone from a coach thought to be on or near the hot seat to a team third in the USA TODAY Sports coaches' poll. Point guard Melo Trimble opted back in after keeping Terps fans on edge with brief thoughts about the NBA, Jake Layman returned and the team added Rasheed Sulaimon from Duke and top recruit Diamond Stone.

There's a few questions about how the Terps will live up to their preseason rankings: They lost a key role player when Dion Wiley injured his knee, and the expectations for the team are something that the program hasn't really experienced for over a decade.

“Coach tells us, ‘You got to just try to block all that out,'" junior Damonte Dodd told the Washington Post. “But it is different last year to this year. Last year coming in, you had no expectations.”

They'll get their first chance to show how they'll handle them against Mount St. Mary's, Friday on the Big Ten Network.

4. Jack, Georgetown's incredibly talented bulldog.

MVP.

The Hoyas open their season on Saturday against Radford on FS2.

5. The highly anticipated debut of Tacko Fall.

We've been waiting for the 7-6 Fall since a myriad of stories about him being the tallest player in high school basketball appeared last year (he's reportedly still growing by the way.) But Fall's debut was almost ruined by problems with paperwork for his high school coursework and with only hours to go before the season opener, the NCAA hadn't budged.

But on Friday, some good news: UCF announced that Fall was granted an academic waiver to play in the season opener. "We are excited for Tacko [Fall] and his family that he has been given the opportunity to pursue his dream as a student-athlete,” said UCF head coach Donnie Jones. “I am thankful the NCAA looked at his case on an individual basis and has given him the opportunity to continue to be a student-athlete here at UCF.”

UCF opens its season on Saturday at Davidson.

6. There's going to be something special going at UConn (again).

Breanna Stewart has the chance to bring another historical accolade to the Huskies: A fourth consecutive national championship. The winner of just about every award in college basketball in 2015, Stewart averaged 17.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game and is currently in 11th place on UConn's all-time scoring list with 1,960 career points. If this was men's basketball, it's likely she would have gone pro years ago, but one of the best parts of the women's game is that we more often get to see players develop from impressive freshmen to unstoppable over four years.

Stewart's paired with Moriah Jefferson, the winner of the 2015 Nancy Lieberman Award as the nation's top point guard and last season's minutes leader, and Morgan Tuck, and it's hard to believe the Huskies won't make history (barring injuries of course).

The Huskies open their season up on Monday against Ohio State on ESPN2.